OK, so we recently relocated from L.A. to Escondido, in northern San Diego County. Great environment, nights that are quiet and dark, and a small-town feel but with a rapid transit line to the beach at Oceanside. (In general, from what I’ve seen so far public transit in and around San Diego seems to be better than in L.A., although allowing for the distances involved it’s probably a wash anyway.)
However, there’s a rub. It seems the inner and (presumably) non-loadbearing walls have the studs spaced at least two feet apart, which means it’s a challenge finding a place to hang heavy pictures or musical instruments. I actually had to hang my guitar on a corner; it looks funny and I’ll likely bump into it on the way to my bathroom, but it does the job. Obviously that doesn’t work so well for pictures. By placing certain tall furniture pieces without regard for the positions of the wall studs, I can hardly hang any pictures at all, in one room. So my question is whether there’s some way of hanging pictures other than individual picture hooks nailed to the wall. Is there some other solution that would work on the same principle as a picture rail, without having to make possibly leasebreaking changes to the apartment?
They’re available everywhere – Amazon, Target, Home Depot, etc. – and they come in all kinds of sizes supporting various weights. I’m a renter, and have used these things in several places. You can get creative with them, too: in addition to using them for pictures, I use the large hooks as curtain rod holders.
Second the 3M Command hooks. If installed properly, they’ll hold a picture, even a heavy one, and they can be cleanly removed. But they’re kind of expensive.
If you do need to find a stud, use a magnet to find the drywall screws on stud. When you find a screw, measure over 16 inches an see if there is a screw on that horizontal plane. If there isn’t, the next stud is 24 inches away, unless the house is an old one and has lath and plaster walls.
